In developed countries, bicycling and pedal boating are enjoying preferred outdoor activities by many people, both are pleasant and healthful exercises. Riding a bicycle to work employment short distance locations is environmentally friendly transportation and less expensive than commuting by car, SUV or pickup truck using high fuel consumption. Therefore, it is not surprising that bicycles, tricycles, go-carts are utilized as dominant means of transportation in developing countries especially in rural and remote areas and represent a market challenge for motorizing said vehicles. Light weight vehicles such as a motorized bicycle have a niche market place below that of motorcycles and commercial mopeds. Even in developed countries that are experiencing high fuel cost alternative modes of transportation is becoming increasing popular such as bicycles, mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles.
Conventional vehicles such as bicycles, tricycles, go-carts and paddle boats are limited by their human-power abilities. Some people cannot pedal a bicycle, tricycle or go-cart while others become tired easily especially in mountainous or hilly areas. It is difficult to pedal a paddle wheel boat for long distance or up stream in a rapid flowing stream that might also be dangerous to such users.
Several variations of basic motorized bicycle gasoline engine kits have been developed for end users in the prior art. Some of these incorporate two-cycle gasoline engines using oil/gasoline mixture that are no longer been allowed by EPA for importation after Jan. 1 of 2006 for on road use due to high exhaust air pollution resulting from mixing oil and gasoline in combustion. Most of these types of engines have been imported from China until recently. Other prior art motorized bikes incorporate rudimentary exposed belt or chain drives with engines mostly mounted over the rear wheel or inside the frame and without any way to mechanically disengage engine power at rpm above clutch operation without killing the engine. Nor does prior art offer a commercially available gearbox control system to allow a small off the shelf 4 cycle engine to do efficient work so intended by an end user described herein.
There exists some electric motor-based bicycles but they have limited low power for hill-climbing and the inability to recharge batteries away from electrical outlets. Gas stations remain the most prevalent present source for vehicle refueling in the USA. The design of an end user specialized engine kit to motorize a standard V frame bicycle and also meet EPA regulation for gasoline engine emission in the prior art are too complex to manufacture due to the obligation for an exclusive EPA approved engine not yet available on the market to replace two-cycle engine bicycle kit variants. The present invention utilizes a standard four-cycle gasoline engine already approved by EPA and readily available in the Original Equipment Manufacture known as OEM, dealer aftermarket. Such newly designed high rpm engines are now made in cc displacement below 50 cc where by making them legal to use on motorized bicycles for on road use in many states in USA.
The present invention provides an end user a way to motorize a vehicle by using a standard EPA approved easily obtainable aftermarket high rpm four-cycle gasoline engine without any modification. As further recognized by the present invention, it is an accoutrement apparatus component that enables an end user to apply a small four-cycle gasoline engine to a chain drive work related wheel type load requirement and gain gear reduction speed and torque with the benefit of engine power engagement control. An object of the present invention is to provide a gear box power control system to motorize a vehicle without the utilizing drive belts or sheave pulleys or driving to a pedal crank shaft in any way, thus gaining the advantage of safety and complete control of engine power engagement. Another object of the present invention is to provide a practical way to drive a work related wheel or axel requirement, but not exclusively limited to, motorizing bicycles, motorizing tricycles, motorizing paddle wheel boats, and motorizing pedal go carts for on road or off road use.